


Why not?

by Descended_from_Hufflepuffs



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Getting Together, M/M, Pining, Separated Lovers, fluff/angst, it's sad but it gets bettter, off camera/deleted scene deal, you know the drill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-26 14:21:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20391115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Descended_from_Hufflepuffs/pseuds/Descended_from_Hufflepuffs
Summary: Sort of a off-camera/deleted scene sort of deal between Gil and Jay. Basically, what happened when Gil and Jay were separated by loyalties and a barrier after finding a little hope and happiness with each other.





	1. Gil

The day was over, at long last. Audrey had been defeated and saved from her deathbed, the ember was safe if Mal needed it again, and Uma was headed back to the Isle with her first and second mates. Uma knew the Isle would need a little hope once they learned the barrier was down for good and she figured she was the best person to give that to them. Harry followed her as he always would, being a loyal first mate. Gil was just as loyal but there was something more hesitant in his steps as he followed them back up the gangplank of the  _ Lost Revenge _ . 

He climbed up to the crows nest and looked up to see the usual cloud cover, blocking out almost every star. He sighed and thought back to just an hour ago, standing out in the hall with Jay while Hades did his thing.

“Uma says we’re going back after this,” he murmured, digging his shoes into the carpet.

Jay’s head snapped up to look at him, confusion clear in his features. “You don’t have to; Auradon won’t turn you away after you saved us. This is what she wanted, right?”

Gil shrugged. “She won’t leave the Isle, not until everyone else is off it. But that won’t be long, right? Mal said everyone was coming over after this.” He smiled a little at the thought, the idea of being free. They could get a proper boat and go sailing. Maybe he and Jay really could go rafting in the jungle and find a lost civilization and eat more grapes. Wouldn’t that be fun?

Jay shook his head and looked back at the ground. “No. No, they’re not. She lied, to all of us. The council already decided to shut the barrier after Hades’ stunt the other day.” It wasn’t necessary to mention it was Mal’s idea; that’d probably only hurt him more. “You could stay here though, with us. We could go find a penguin,” he tried to save awkwardly, the smile on his face a shade less than real.

Gil’s jaw dropped and he stepped away from the wall he’d been leaning on. “Are…. Are you serious? That’s it? Just four more kids and they shut it down? Wasn’t that Ben’s whole thing when he became king, to bring over all the kids? There’s a lot more than four over there and they all want to come!” He couldn’t believe it. Ben seemed so nice earlier, why would he agree to something like that.

“I know, I know,” Jay tried to console him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “But it’s out of our hands now. But like I said, you guys are always welcome here; you saved Auradon."

“And what about the rest? The rest of the crew? The rest of the kids? They get to stay there while we live it up here?” Gil pulled away from the other boy, a mix of shock and disgust on his face. 

Jay was about to respond when Hades was brought back out, followed by Uma and Harry. Gil shoved past him to follow, leaving the Agrabah boy behind. No amount of penguins or river rafting could keep him there, he knew that much.

Of course, now that he was alone under the dreary skies of the Isle, he was thinking differently. Yesterday had been the best day of his life. He got to see real sunshine, flowers, grapes, magic, berries…. It was like some crazy dream and he’d never forget it. He’d also never see it again. 

He’d never see Jay again either. 

Being a part of rivaling gangs meant they never really got the chance to know each other, even if they didn’t really have anything against each other. Yesterday had changed things. He got to actually spend time with Jay and it turned out he wasn’t that bad of a guy. He was talented. Funny. Kinda cute. And he made Gil feel good. He explained things and didn’t get mad and told him about new things like oranges. He felt….happy. Really happy. 

And now here he was, alone in the crow’s nest, praying he’d made the right choice. He couldn’t have been happy knowing everyone else here was still suffering, right? Him coming back here was a sign of loyalty. Sighing again as the clouds covered what few stars he could see, he climbed down and went to bed. Maybe he’d feel better about it tomorrow.


	2. Coming Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evie ships these two idiots. They're happy bunnies.

Jay couldn’t believe it. He sat on the roof of Evie’s cottage that night, staring up at the stars and wondering how many Gil could see. He never should have told Gil about the barrier closing, that way he would’ve stayed. Of course, he likely would’ve found out anyway and then he’d be mad at Jay for lying to him. That wouldn’t be good.

He heard someone climbing up next to him and was a little surprised to see Evie. “Hey. What’s up?”

“You’re asking me?” The blue-haired girl brushed off her skirt as she sat next to him. “You’ve been up here since dinner; I’ve never seen you sit in one place so long unless we were in class.” She tilted her head and placed her hand over his. “Is this about what happened earlier? With the barrier…?”

Jay shook his head and sat up some. “No. Well, kinda. I guess. I don’t know.” He sighed and rested his chin on his hand. “I just…. I never thought I’d feel bad for Harry Hook. For all his talk about hating Auradon...he seemed like he really believed in all this, bringing the kids over and a safer life for all of us.”

Evie smiled weakly and sat closer to him. “Yeah, Carlos said you guys started getting along a bit more when you were looking for Ben. You and Gil even talked about traveling together….” She had a feeling this was way more about Gil than it was about Harry but she’d wait for him to say it.

Gil. “Yeah…. He was really excited to see a penguin. I…. I told him he could stay if he wanted but he wanted to stay with Uma. Crew loyalty and all that.” Somehow, the fact that Gil would never get to see a penguin was the most unjust thing about all of this. 

Evie nodded and pat his hand. “Well…. I’d say you could ask Mal but I doubt he would take an exception and she’s not changing her mind on it. Goodness forbid we take a small risk for everyone else’s sake. Not like that’s what good people and heroes do….” She and Mal weren’t going to be on the best of terms for a while. 

Jay felt her pain. Mal had lied to all of them and somehow roped Ben into ending the best thing that could have ever happened to the Isle. He didn’t understand why and he doubted he ever would. The worst part of it was how many kids who really deserved to be in Auradon, who were never bad despite their environment, like Gil and Dizzy. They had everything in them that Auradon would ever ask for and it was wrong to cut them off like that. “Almost makes you wanna steal an enchanted barge and grab all of them, huh?” he said half-jokingly. He knew that could never happen and there would be massive clean up if they did. 

Still, the idea got a laugh out of Evie so it couldn’t be that bad. “Yeah, sure does….” She smiled at him and pulled him into a small hug. “Gil will be okay. He’s got Uma and Harry with him,” she murmured, gently kissing his forehead before standing and going to the edge of the roof to climb down. “Stay up here as long as you need, okay?”

Jay nodded and laid back down to stare at the sky. He didn’t go back inside until after the dawn peeked over the horizon and he slept until almost noon, thanks to Evie steering everyone away from his room. 

The next few weeks were difficult for both of them. Gil spent his time training Celia in self-defense while pretending nothing was bothering him, something Harry and Uma saw through like a clean window but neither of them were ready for that conversation. Jay split his time between training for University Tourney and avoiding Mal. By the time the engagement party rolled around, they had managed to convince themselves it wasn’t that big of a deal. Of course, Jay spent half the party looking back at the Isle and Gil actually bothered to watch the broadcast but neither of them would admit it.

Then, something magical happened.

No one knew what got into Mal that she decided to really care about the Isle, more than just passing comments and wishes. Removing the barrier and building a bridge was a bit extreme given how many villains had been nursing revenge boners for the last twenty years but that was a thought for another day. Gil all but ran across that bridge and were it not for the obligatory music number choreography, they would’ve hugged right there in the middle of everything.

“Let’s go exploring together! I’ll do a gap year and we can get a boat or something and go where ever we want! What d’ya say? Jungle or icebergs?”

“How about both?!” 

They chest bumped, which turned into a hug, which might have turned into something more if Uma and Evie hadn’t pulled them away from each other for a bit. Evie wanted to gush about him and Gil and offer to make them some new outfits for their trip (mostly for Gil, poor wardrobeless boy that he was). Uma partially wanted to rant about Harry being an idiot and flirting with everybody, though she wouldn’t let Gil dangle him over the water yet; she wasn’t that mad. But she was happy for him. “Bring me a souvenier from Atlantica, okay?” she teased, sending him on his way.

As luck would have it, it was a while they got together again. Between people stopping Gil to congratulate him on saving Auradon and the Core Four stopping Jay to question him on Gil, they were quite popular. It wasn’t until the sun went down and most of the people had left that they had a chance to really talk.

Gil was sitting on the edge of the courtyard, looking over the water to the Isle when Jay approached him. The Agrabahan boy sat next to him and offered a cupcake and the most genuine smile he’d worn in weeks. “Here, your first taste of Auradon.”

The blond took it and moaned at the taste. “I will never get over icing.”

“You think that’s good? Wait until we get to ice cream. And cotton candy. Oh, and slushies! You’ll love slushies. It’s like sugar you can drink!”

Gil giggled and shoved the rest of the cupcake in his mouth. “That all sounds really great. And Uma says I can go on that trip with you if I want, which I do.”

Jay chuckled and wrapped his arm around him. “Good, because Evie’s already designing your wardrobe for it.”

Gil smiled and scooted closer. He didn’t care that much about the little details (though if they could leave before his dad came over that would be nice), he just wanted to see all of Auradon. See it all with Jay. Maybe gush about it with Uma and Harry when he got back.

Sitting on the edge of Auradon and watching the sun go down made Jay feel something and when he turned to face Gil he could tell the other boy felt it too. Neither of them quite knew what it was having never felt it before, but that didn’t matter as they silently leant in for a small kiss.

Well, it would have been small if Evie hadn’t happened to look over and squeal when it happened. But that was okay; at least now they didn’t have to worry about wedding planning.


End file.
